WOAISeveral independent ‘milita’ groups, concerned over what they see as a porous southern border and unchecked illegal immigration, plan to block traffic on Saturday at several international ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
Militias have been flocking to the border since July in what the Minuteman Project describes as ‘Operation Normandy.’
The groups have been even more energized by reports that jihadist groups are using the border as a way to infiltrate ‘sleeper cells’ into the United States, a claim that federal immigration authorities have rejected.
Omar Lucio, the Cameron County Sheriff, is calling on the groups to stand down tomorrow.
“If it does happen, I hope it will be peaceful and I hope they won’t interfere, because if they do, they will be arrested,” Lucio told Newsradio 1200 WOAI. “Maybe that’s what they want, but that’s not the way to do it.”
Two militia members were arrested over an incident earlier this week in Brownsville when a loaded handgun was left in a convenience store rest room. The two men were also expelled by their militia group.
Lucio says the best way to push the claim of out of control illegal immigration is not to punish the truck drivers who are hauling items across the border in an attempt to make a living.
“That doesn’t help matters,” he said. “The people who are coming here are doing trade. If they want changes in immigration law, they should go to Congress.”
Meanwhile, a group of civil rights activists who toured the detention center for adults with children that was opened in Karnes City in July said conditions in the facility are hurting the children.
“It damages the family structure by stripping the parents of their family authority, and actually separating parents from their children,” Adrianna Pinon of the ACLU told Newsradio 1200 WOAI’s Michael Board.
“Many mothers shared with us that their children have been slowly losing weight since their detention began.”
The activists said a lawsuit on behalf of the mostly Central American illegal immigrants is a possibility. They say rather than being held at the detention center, the families should be released into the U.S., either on cash bonds or with an ankle monitor to track their movements.
The Karnes City center, which has ben denounced as inhuman, features free food and housing, free makeovers and hair cutting, free medical care, and flat screen TVs in every room.
Sheriff’s Your duty is to PROTECT THE COUNTRY under the Constitution Not taking orders from a crazy President who is tearing ths country apart. The Border needs to be closed locked up so Terrorists and people OTM’S can’t through. All Americans will stand with you not just the few in Washington who violate the laws every day and should be in prison for violations.
Mark
Forget the Sheriffs, because every one of them is basically another politician playing both sides of the street. Hopefully this event will get things rolling so we can begin the process of straightening this country out.
“Many mothers shared with us that their children have been slowly losing weight since their detention began.”
Are these the fat mothers that came here begging for more free food to stuff into their fat faces? Their kids might not be starving if they didn’t have a pig for a mother, and if they’re disturbed by them “slowly losing weight”, it’s only because they were planning on eating their own babies too.